The Breakdown

Today is the day that all the "Big Winter Releases" hit the shelves hoping to be purchased by you. However, before you go running off to the stores, or to your trusty inter-tube shopping sites, let's take a moment to ponder if there is anything worth buying. Personally, I don't think so, not this week anyway.

Identity Thief was hoping to be the big winter comedy of the year. With Jason Bateman hoping to cash another check for playing yet another quiet, average joe, situationally funny, almost witty, victim; and Melissa McCarthy riding the wave caused by the splash of Bridesmaids. For me, the trailer didn't quite grab me, and I never felt inclined to give this one a shot. It seems IMDB agreed with me as this one weighed in at a mere 5.6 on their scale. While this may be enough for most comedies, in my book it's not nearly enough for what this one was billed as, the winter comedic blockbuster of the year. So my suggestion is that if you haven't seen it, snag it on Redbox or Netflix when it becomes available there. I think you can wait a few extra weeks on this one. If you didn't rush to the theaters to see it there, why rush now.

A Good Day to Die Hard is the next installment of the Die Hard anthology, and the second of the films to fill me with a mighty rage. Yes, I grant you, Die Hard 2 was certainly the weakest of the original trilogy, however even it did not suck as bad as Live Free or Die Hard or A Good Day to Die Hard combined. Again, I should have known based on the crapfest of the film before it and the trailer for this latest release, but hindsight is 20/20. IMDB brings this one in at a lowly 5.4, and I think this was overly generous and skewed by fans who are simply in denial and can't let themselves accept that the run of Die Hard is over. The stories simply continue to get more unbelievable with even more feeble attempts to mask a lack of storyline and writing talent with jokes and nods to previous films in the series that were actually worth your time. I would say not only is this film not worth buying, it's not worth watching.

Lastly, Warm Bodies is one that may be worth the watch. This film gives us what we have all been dying to see, a beautiful tribute to both classic Shakespeare and the reanimated dead. Ok, so maybe that's a stretch, but in this era or film and literature where we can't seem to help but write about humans loving fictitious, supernatural, undead creatures, this one at least gives it to us with a spoonful of comedy to help it go down. With an overall rating on IMDB of 7.1, I would go out on a limb to say that it's worth the watch via Redbox or Netflix sure, but maybe even for $5.99 via on demand video or Xbox Video. We'll be taking a look at this one and doing a more in depth write up in the next week or so, as it relates to this month's podcast theme (let that marinate, more will be divulged in tomorrow's podcast episode).

Not a bad week for television

While there may not be many films worth buying, for those of you television series collectors out there, it seems that there may be several worth your while releasing today. Here they are, in list form:

Thank you all for reading, and keep an eye out for our new podcast episode airing tomorrow! As always you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and be sure to subscribe to our podcast, now available in the iTunes Store!